Ask around the tasting room what the Pope drinks and you will get guesses. Some of it is on the record. Pope Leo XIV, elected in May 2025, grew up in Chicago and spent more than 20 years in Peru. A former employee told the German paper Neue Osnabrücker Zeitung that at his table "a good glass of wine is more likely to be served on the table than a Fanta," and he has been seen enjoying a beer with acquaintances.
The Fanta remark is a wink at Benedict XVI. His longtime secretary, Archbishop Georg Gänswein, wrote in his memoir that Benedict liked Fanta and sometimes mixed it with beer. Wine was poured, though. During his April 2008 visit to New York, Joseph Bastianich served a 2003 passito made from Friulano grapes dried on the vine, and said the Pope "really took to" it.
Pope Francis, an Argentine, was more of a mate drinker. Still, in January 2024 he told more than 100 Italian winemakers at the Vatican that wine "is a gift from God," then joked, "This seems like a drunk pope."
Carlo Attisano, a former papal flight sommelier, says Francis tasted a little of whatever was on board and liked his breakfast toast with jam made from Sagrantino grapes. We grow Sagrantino in El Dorado County. We are just noting that.
The Vatican does have a house wine. Since 2001 it has come from Heras Cordón in Fuenmayor, Rioja: a blend of Tempranillo, Graciano and Mazuelo, aged at least 15 months, about 2,000 bottles a year, with the papal coat of arms on the label. For Leo's June 2026 Spain trip the winery shipped about 100 bottles for his private audiences.
There is a papal vineyard too, though it is young. In autumn 2024 Francis had two hectares, about 8,000 vines, planted at the summer residence in Castel Gandolfo, designed with the University of Udine. His advice: "Always aim for excellence."
Leo opened the surrounding Borgo Laudato si' estate in September 2025. Those vines are not producing yet, so in June 2026 the Holy See's official wine came from a partner: 5,000 bottles of "Laudato Sie," a 2023 blend of Refosco, Pinot Noir and Cabernet made at Villa Russiz in Friuli.
Then there is the statistic. Using 2012 figures from the California Wine Institute, Vatican City's roughly 836 residents drank 74 liters of wine per person, ahead of Andorra at 46 and France at 44. The catch is the Vatican supermarket, where wine is taxed far lower than in Italy, and many shopping card holders are not citizens.
As for the altar, the rules are short. Canon 924 says the wine "must be natural from the fruit of the vine and not spoiled," with a little water mixed in. A 2017 Vatican letter signed by Cardinal Robert Sarah adds that it must be "pure and incorrupt, not mixed with other substances," and that wine of doubtful origin is out.
Red, white or rosé qualify, sparkling does not, and sulfites are allowed. For Leo's Mass in Monaco on 28 March 2026, the wine was a 2024 white Grenache from a five acre vineyard in France's Loire, made without added sulfites.
So what does the Pope drink? A decent red, by the sound of it. We can work with that.
Sources
- Mashed: The Favorite Foods and Eating Habits of Pope Leo XIV (20 May 2025)
- Wine Spectator: Pope Francis Calls Wine a Gift from God (2 February 2024)
- Foods and Wines from Spain: Pope Leo's Spanish food and wine voyage (16 June 2026)
- ANSA: In FVG si produce il vino 'Laudato Sie' per il Vaticano (4 June 2026)
- Vatican: Circular letter on the bread and wine for the Eucharist (15 June 2017)
